Texas Supreme Court

The Texas Supreme Court took up two cases this week on whether injunctions in defamation cases are constitutional: "Treading the gray area between freedom of speech and permissible government censorship, the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases Thursday that could determine whether state judges may permanently ban people from repeating information found to be false and defamatory," the Austin American-Statesman reports.

I reviewed the oral arguments, and one issue that came up is whether there is a constitutional right to defamatory speech under the Texas Constitution. One of the proponents for the constitutionality of post-judgment injunctions banning someone from repeating false and defamatory statements said that defamatory speech has no constitutional protection. But his opponent argued the Texas Constitution provides more protection than the U.S. Constitution for freedom of speech and that defamatory speech does have constitutional protection in Texas. If there is constitutional protection under state constitutional law , then a post-judgment injunction would be illegal and damages would be the only remedy for the parties who were defamed.

The Texas Supreme Court heard oral argument on whether a blogger who has criticized an Ohio-based company should be unmasked by court order, the Associated Press reported. The blogger's attorney argued that Texas courts don't have personal jurisdiction over the blogger, while the company's attorney argues that Texas does have jurisdiction because its CEO owns a home in Houston and the company has its largest Texas office in Houston. During oral argument, Chief Justice Nathan Hecht questioned if Texas should "be concerned that its courts can be used to investigate any cause of action that could be brought anywhere in the United States. Why should Texas courts just be sort of the State Bureau of Investigation?" according to the AP.

Next month, the Texas Supreme Court will consider two separate cases of estranged same-sex spouses who married in Massachusetts and want to get divorced in Texas. This blog post notes: "Currently, it is unclear what the decisions of the Texas Supreme Court are likely to be. More than anything else, these upcoming decisions reflect the changing landscape of family law in the U.S. As of now, just over a quarter of the U.S. population lives in jurisdictions that have legalized same-sex marriage. As one of the fastest growing states in the U.S., it is important for Texas law to articulate its approach to these sorts of issues. Indeed, questions regarding same-sex marriage and divorce are likely to become more common throughout the country."